A university lecturer who is seriously fond of writing and even repeatedly published is experiencing psychological difficulties with writing works of major prose. Previous attempts to "enhance" the novel ended in a pinch, and the last one - even barely prevented by the disaster, when his house was almost burned down with all the family members (the loser author decided to burn the problematic manuscript). But quite by chance, the main character comes to mind the plot of a fascinating Western and , so that nothing distracts him from the creative process , he takes a vacation and rides alone in a forest cottage, Inherited from deceased parents , Self-isolated in a cabin in the forest during a terrible storm ....Working on a brilliantly conceived western will stall until the hero, under strange circumstances, meets a talking rat. She offers to finish the novel for him - but for this, some of the writer's friends must die...The story "Rat" from the collection "If It Bleeds" 2020 ..